EEPTILIA. 15 



10. GYMNODACTYLTJS MICROTIS. PL II, fig. 1. 



Jour. As. Soc. Bengal, 1875, xliv, Ft. 2, p. 193. 



G. parum robustm, capite brevi, depresso, meatu auditorio minima ; cauda attenuatd, 

 Idvi, haud verticillatcB ; membris breviusculis ; dorso granulato, tuberculis subcarinatis 

 ornato ; arenarius, fusco minute punctatus, subtus albescens. Long, tota 3' 2 poll., 



candce 1'8. 



1-20, Yarkand; 21-27, Yangihissar; 28-66, Kashghar, 67-75, no label, probably Kashghar. 



Description. General form moderately slender ; head short, blunt, slightly depressed, 

 convex towards the snout, ear-opening very small, tail stout at the base and regularly attenuate, 

 smooth, not ringed ; limbs rather short, the fore limb laid forward reaches between the eye 

 and the snout, laid back it extends more than half-way to the thigh, the hind limb laid 

 forward does not reach the shoulder. Toes rather short, rounded, all with minute claws ; pupil 

 vertical. Length of a perfect specimen 3'2 inches ; tail 1'8. 



Head granular above, granules of the occiput, region between the eyes, and sides of the 

 head behind the eyes equal in size, those of the snout and loreal regions rather larger. 

 Nostril in an angle between the rostral, first labial, and the points of two posterior shields, the 

 inner of which is usually the larger. 



There are generally nine or ten upper labials on each side, the first five being the largest, 

 and in most cases there are four large lower labials followed by smaller scales, but these charac. 

 ters are not constant ; sometimes there are six lower labials. Mental ending behind in an obtuse 

 angle, two or three pairs of enlarged chin-shields ; all the scales near the lower labials larger 

 than the flat granules of the throat. Back granular, with bluntly keeled enlarged tubercles ; 

 about eight to ten of these may be counted across the back ; they are not very regularly dis- 

 posed, and all are larger than the minute ear-opening. Abdomen covered with flat hexagonal 

 scales, which diminish in size laterally, but come farther up the sides than in most geckoes and 

 pass into the dorsal granules. Eive prseanal pores in males in a transverse row in front of the 

 anus. Limbs granular above. Tail granular throughout, granules convex above, rather larger 

 and flat below. 



Colour sandy above, whitish below, a pale line from the nose to the eye above the rather 

 darker loreal region, and sometimes a pale line down each side of the back. Under the lens 

 the upper parts are seen to be minutely puncticulated with brown, more closely in some parts 

 than others, and there are also in places fine spots on the abdominal scales. 



This species is probably allied to Lacerta pipiens * of Pallas, a species apparently over- 

 looked by most herpetologists, and which, like the present species, is described as possessing a 

 minute ear and a smooth tail ; it, however, has no tubercles on the back, to judge by Pallas' 

 description, and it is very differently coloured. On one of Dr. Stoliczka's labels the present 

 species is said to be found under stones and about old walls, and it is evidently common. 



In his list of the Western Turkestan reptiles, Severtzoff includes G. caspius, Eich. 

 G. scaber, Eupp., and G. eversmanni, Strauch. I have not been able to find the description 

 of the last. 



1 Pallas : Zool. Kos. As., iii, p. 27 ; Ascolabotes pipiens, Licht., Eversman's Reise, p. 145. 



